Lamp holder for double ended tubular lamps



Dec. 20, 1955 H. L. O'DONNELL ETAL LAMP HOLDER FOR DOUBLE ENDED TUBULAR LAMPS Filed Feb. 5, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I4 I l4 I9 28 27 25 I9 22 I5 I? 23 l8 '8 WITNESSES:

mvguToRs Henry Lee 0 Donnell, Edward E.Forstrom and James E.Meehon. BY

M19 TATTORNEY Fig.3.

Dec. 20, 1955 H. L. O'DONNELL ETAL LAMP HOLDER FOR DOUBLE ENDED TUBULAR LAMPS Filed Feb. 5, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I? 34 35 l6 ,l5 l6 I4 I? 33 6 46 3a 5;: O Y o 5; r"-" o o :1 I I l H I I H II 42 42 g: L 45 43 l Fig. 6.

WITNESSES: F l I INVENTORS i W Henry Lee 0 Donnell, Edward E. Forstrom and m ATTORNEY James E. Meehcn. Y I

United States Patent Ofi 2,728,057 Patented Dec. 20, 1955 ice LAMP HOLDER FOR DOUBLE ENDED TUBULAR LAMPS Henry Lee ODonnell and James E. Meehan, Bridgeport, and Edward E. Forstrom, Stratford, Conn., assignors to The Bryant Electric Company, Bridgeport, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application February 5, 1951, Serial No. 209,506 4 Claims. (Cl. s39 57 Our invention relates, more particularly, fluorescent type.

generally, to holders for to lamp holders and, tubular lamps of the factured and installed.

A more specific object of our invention is to facilitate the high voltage lamp holder. This spring conducts current from a high voltage terminal to the cup-shaped conin the high voltage holder.

is attached by screws or rivets.

For a better understanding of the nature of the invention, reference may be had to the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a view, in front elevation, of a high voltage terminal lamp holder embodying features of our invention;

Fig. 2 is a view in section, taken along the line HII of Fig. l

Fig. 3 is a view, in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view, in section, similar to Fig. 2, of the low voltage terminal holder;

Fig. 5 is a View, in end elevation, of the holder shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of one of the terminal assemblies of Fig. 4;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, portions of the structure being removed, and

and objects in end elevation, of the holder shown Fig. 8 is a View, in perspective of an insulating member utilized to retain contact fingers in position in the holder shown in Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the structure shown therein comprises a lamp holder 10, shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3,v and a somewhat similar holder 11 shown in Figs. 4 to 8,- inclusive. The lamp holders are suitable for mounting,

13 may be provided openings 14 to facilitate the mounting of the supporting member for the holders.

with key-hole- A metal cover 15 may be attached to the metal base one of the openings 17. her 19 is mounted in the cup member 18 and is biased 19 in the cup-shaped member 18.

As shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 3, the dome- 19 has a centrally disposed opening 25 pin of the lamp tube.

be inserted into the opening 28 when the It will be understood that the tube, thereby establishing electrical contact with the contact pin. 7 V

As shown in Fig. 2, a contact washer 29 is disposed on the bottom of the cup-shaped member 18 around a member 27, conductor 32 tween the washer 29 and the cup-shaped the electrical circuit is established from the through the washer 29,

dome-shaped member 19 and the member 19 outwardly against the cover 15 at'all times except when the domeshaped member 19 may be depressed during the installation of the lamp tube.

the bracket on;

The holder 11 shown in Figs. 4 to 7, inclusive, comprises the base 12, the mounting bracket 13, and the cover 15 which are similar to th j; ones previously described. Th mounti g bracket 13 isprovi ed with e yhol openings 1. te aeilitate itsmolm p n e upp ing member.

n ulating mem r 3.3 h ving a circ la ge34 its outer surfaceis disposed in each opening 17. in the holden 11. The insulating member 33 has a centrally disposed opening 35 for receiving the contact pin of the lamp tube. Qppositely disposed L-shaped contact members 3.6; are mounted on the inner surface. of the insulating member .33 underneath the opening 35 where they will be engaged bythe, contact pin of the lamp tube when itisinsertedinto the opening35t As shown most clearly in Fig. 7, the lower leg of each L-shaped member 36 has oppositely disposed semicylindrical notches 37 therein which engage cylindrical projections 38 on, the insulating member 33 to assist in retaining the contact member in position. An insulating 39 (Fig.8) having four openings 41 therein for the projections38 is disposed on'the lower side of the contact members 36, and insulating spacers 42 are disposed between the disc 39 and the base 12, thereby retaining the contact members 36 and the insulating member 33 in position when the base is attached to the cover 15.

In this manner, the contact members 36 are retained in position without beingdirectly attached to the insulatingrnember 33 or to the base 12 or thecover 15. Likewise, the contact members 27 and 29 in. the holder are retainedin position when the cover is attached'to the base without the contact members being directly attached to the insulating members 18.0r 19-.

As shown in Fig. 6, the insulating member 33, has two oppositely disposed cylindrical projections 43 which extend into notches. 4.4 in the circumference of the disc 39, therebyinsuring that the openings 41 in the disc are in proper alignment with the projections 38 during the as.- sembly of the parts. It will be noted that the insulating spacers 42 are slightly bowed and that the ends of these spacers fit, into recesses 45 at the sides of. the projections 43. Thus, the spacers 42 are retained in position during the assembly of the parts by the spring effect of the insulating spacers. The necessary. electrical connections to the contact members 36 are made through conductors 46whichrnay be connected toa suitable source of power.

As. explained hereinbefore, the tube holders 10 and 11 may be spaced-in accordance with the length of the tubes which are to be mounted in the holders. It is apparent that a tube may be readily installedby inserting the contact pin on one end of the tube into the dome-shaped member 19 in the holder 10 and cornpressing the spring 21 sufliciently to permit the-contact pin on the other end of the tube to be inserted into the opening 35 in one of holder 11. When the pressure on the spring Zl is released, the spring biases the dome-shaped member 19 outwardly, thereby retaining the tube in position. As shown, the holders 10 and 11 are constructed to support two tubes. It will be understood that they may be com structed to support more tubes if it is so desired.

Fromthe foregoing description, it is apparent thatwe have provided a lamp holder for tubular lamps; which is simple, in construction and which'may be readily manufactured and quickly. assembledsince a minimum hu ber ofscrews. or rivets arerequired to hold the assembled pieces together. Furthermore, readily, installed in the holders as provisionis madefor facilitating the installa ion of the tubes. Thelamp hold:

ers may; be readily mounted, on any suitable supporting membe s- Sinee nume ou h ngesinav b m de nth ab t e ecribed ens r eti n; dif re t. mbodiments of; the invention may be made without the opening 25 in the insulating members 33in thee. amp u es m y e parting trornahe: spirit;

and scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the foregoing description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

We claim as our invention:

1. In a lamp holder, in combination, a metal base, a metal cover for the base, saidcover having a round opening in its face opposite said base, a cup-shaped insulating member disposed on the base between the cover and the base and withv the Sides thereof extending towardthe cover around said opening, a dome-shaped insulating member disposed in the cup-shaped member and projecting into said opening and having inwardly offset flange means engageable with the inner surface; of said cover, said dome-shaped member having a centrally disposed opening therein, a contactmember disposed underneath the central opening for engagement by a member inserted hrough. said opening, and pring me ns int rp s d tween, the contact member and the bottom of the cupshaped member to bias the contact member and the domeshaped member outwardly.

2. lamp holder comprising, a hollow metal housing having a circular opening in. one wall thereof, an outwardly convex circular insulating plunger disposed in said: housing opening and having a central contactreceiving opening, radially extending guide ridges on the enter" convex surface of said. plunger leading to said central opening for guiding a contact to said contact receiving opening, a contact member ing in said plunger, a cylindrical guide member of insulating material in said. housing receiving said plunger for reciprocating movement toward and away from said opening, spring: means biasing said plunger and contact member outwardly rel tive to said opening, stop means iimiting said outward movement of the plunger to a posi: tion in the vicinity of said housing-opening with at least the central portion thereof protruding from said opening due to the convexity thereof, and keying means on said plunger, and guidememben for preventing. rotative movement of theplunger in said guide member.

3. Alampholder comprising a generally elongated cupshaped metal housing section having an open side: and a metal cover section adapted to'be secured to the housing to close the, open side, thereof; one ofsaidsections havings spaced insulating members seated thereon adjacentthe ends of saidone section, respectively, each of said insulating members having an inwardly extending projection opposite and substantially centrally aligned with an opening intheother section, at least a portion of the. periphery of each of, said insulating members and the. adjacent side wall portion of the housing being complementary, in shape so as to initially locate the, insulating members in said housing,,an opening in said housing betweensaidinsulating members for receiving flexible conductors, a-rigid, conducting member-securedto the inner end of each of said conductors and having an opening of a size to freelyreceive one of'said projections to be substantially centrally locatedrelative to said openings, re-' spectively, acoil compression springfor. each of: said insulating members having one end'of'a size to closely'butfreely receivethe projectionon its insulating-member to locatesaid one; end of the spring substantially'centr-allyof the adjacent opening and to hold the associated con behind the openinsulating members, conducting members, springs, discs and plungers in position, and said means for securing the housing and cover sections together comprising the sole means for maintaining all of the remaining parts in assembled relation.

4. A lampholder comprising, a hollow housing having an opening in one side Wall thereof, an insulating plunger slidably mounted in said housing for movement toward and away from said opening and having a contact receiving opening, at least the outer surface of said plunger being convex outwardly and having radially extending guide ridges thereon leading to said contact receiving opening for guiding a contact to said contact receiving opening, a contact member behind the opening in said plunger, spring means biasing said plunger and contact member toward said housing opening,

limiting movement of the plunger by the spring to the References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Pistey Aug. 5, 1952 

